So Much for the Labor Movement’s Funeral

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When Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and his antilabor colleagues on the Supreme Court handed down theJanus v. AFSCMEdecisionlast June, unions braced for the worst. TheAmerican Federation of Teachersexpected it might lose 30 percent of its revenue after the high court gave public-sector workers the right to be free riders, benefiting from union representation but paying nothing.

Instead, the 1.7 million-member union added 88,500 members sinceJanus— more than offsetting the 84,000 “agency-fee payers” it lost because of theSupreme Court ruling. And the union has had a burst of energy.